


In Recovery

by kaeorin



Series: Loki's Lullabies [39]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Avenger Loki (Marvel), Domestic Avengers, F/M, Minor Injuries, POV Loki (Marvel), Reader-Insert
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:40:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23995426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaeorin/pseuds/kaeorin
Summary: You’re his anchor. You keep him steady. You keep him grounded. When you get injured on a mission and have to sit out the next one, Loki finds a way to look after you while he’s gone.
Relationships: Loki (Marvel)/Reader
Series: Loki's Lullabies [39]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1678240
Comments: 9
Kudos: 221





	In Recovery

Missions were always worse when you weren’t around. It went against his nature to sit quietly while others ridiculed him, but every time he blew up at a member of the team, Stark was fond of reminding him just how precarious his position there truly was. When you were well and accompanied him on missions, you would always pull him off to one side and sit facing him as though you could block out the others. You gave him something else to focus on so he could ignore the rest. But you were not well. In fact, you had been one of the only members of the team who hadn’t gone this time. He’d wanted to stay back with you, but Thor had insisted. It was all hands on deck, as the mortals said, and his magic could come in handy.

It had. Loki couldn’t shake the feeling—and the smug pride—that, if he had not been there this time, surely not everyone would have survived. Thor had pointed that out as well, but Loki knew better than to hope to hear anything like that from the petty, silly mortals on the team. 

You were the only reason he did not dream of slipping away. He was bound to remain here and help out as needed, but if it weren’t for you, he would have very little incentive to remain at all civil. But every time you heard him snap at someone, your face would go all tense and woeful, and he hated making you look like that. So he stopped giving in to his instincts and stopped reacting to the torment. 

Some of them noticed rather quickly. Loki began to notice many of the others exchanging uneasy looks when Loki didn’t respond to Stark’s prodding, and they didn’t join in. Banner started trying to get Stark to tone it down a bit, and did have some level of success. Loki knew better than to think he’d ever truly be a full-fledged member of the team, but, at the very least, he appreciated that most of them had shifted from biting comments to quiet Looks.

He was first off the jet when it touched down back at the compound. When he’d left, you had been in the infirmary. On your last mission with the soldiers, they had let you get thrown off of a skyscraper, and although the Falcon had kept you from smashing into nothing on the pavement, he’d broken entirely too many of your ribs and dislocated your arm when doing it. It had been hard, almost impossible, for him to control himself when Steve came out of the jet carrying your broken body, but when you’d whispered his name at him and reached out for his hand, he’d managed.

Wanda had brought you, for some reason, a stuffed bear. You’d laughed painfully and squeezed it before thanking her with a lovely warmth in your voice. Although he hadn’t said a word, he wondered what purpose it could possibly serve. Children carried stuffed toys, he knew, and often used them for comfort and security, but why would one adult bring another adult a toy? After all this time with you, he was not even surprised when you caught the confusion he tried to hide. It was just something people did, you’d explained. Recovery could get lonely, so sometimes people brought gifts like that in hopes of showing support. The idea still baffled him a little, but that hadn’t stopped him from going out to find something of his own to give you. 

After a bit of searching, he found it. Emerald-green and incrediby large, he’d known that the snake was meant for you from the first moment he saw it. It was not nearly as fluffy as Wanda’s bear, and maybe it wasn’t as cuddly, either, but...Loki himself was not particularly fluffy or cuddly, and you found comfort in him regardless. He’d felt ridiculous carrying the toy through the compound, but the way your face lit up when you saw it made it all worth it. Before leaving for this latest mission, he had tucked it around you—it really was just absurdly large—and assured you that it would look after you in his absence.

You were no longer in the infirmary. Even Stark’s technology could not fully knit your ribcage back together in less than a week, but when Loki went looking for you, the doctor there told him that you were well enough to go back to your own room and sleep in your own bed. And that was where he found you. Normally, he knew that you liked to sleep on your side, or sometimes on your stomach, especially if he was lying beside you and you could fling your arm over his chest. Your injuries kept you on your back, however, so he was free to take in the sight of your face in the light streaming in from the hallway. 

You were beautiful. After all this time, perhaps that should have ceased to surprise him, but...it hadn’t. If he could spend the rest of his life lying beside you, tracing his fingertips gently against your face and simply marveling at the fact that you existed, he would. Standing there in the doorway to your bedroom, he ached to go to you, to join you in your bed, but he hesitated. 

Wanda’s bear sat on the nightstand beside your bed, keeping watch over you as you slept. He scanned the room for the snake, wondering if perhaps you’d dropped it into the chair beside your bed, but he didn’t see it. Where could it be? He moved closer, now, scanning the bed until he finally caught sight of the snake’s head resting on your shoulder. Warmth flooded his body and he tried not to laugh aloud: the snake was wrapped around you, much the way it had been when he left. As he stood there, you stirred a bit, and one hand came up to the snake’s head to push it closer to your own. He smiled. The snake was cuddling you in his absence. You pressed your forehead to the side of the snake’s head and sighed, then tried to arch your back into a stretch. He winced for you and reached out to touch your cheek.

You whimpered as the pain woke you, and the sound cut through him. Your other hand came up to rest against his, and then you blinked blearily at him in the darkness. He smiled at you. “Don’t sit up,” he warned, knowing perfectly well how you would want to sit up and throw your arms around him in greeting. “Are you in pain, love?”

“Only when I move wrong.” Your voice, sleep-rough as it was, was like a balm for his soul. The team was abrasive, sandpaper against exposed skin, but you were soft and kind and sweet. “Come to bed?”

“I should think that my place has already been spoken for.” He nodded towards the stuffed toy, letting his lips curl into a fond smile. You followed his gaze and rubbed your head against the snake again.

“He kept me company when you were gone, but nothing compares to the real thing.” You tugged at the toy, trying to pull it away from you. He caught your sharp exhalation when your body twisted and reached out to still your hands. He took care of it for you: he unwound the snake from around you and draped it along the side of the bed, away from his spot. Then he made quick work of his clothing, letting it drop to the floor before sliding under the covers with you. Touching you was like finally breaking the surface after a deep dive beneath the water. It was like breathing. He turned onto his side to face you and let out a sigh against the skin of your shoulder. You shivered. “This is better.”

He cupped your cheek again and kissed your forehead, the tip of your nose, your soft lips. It was like coming home. Relaxation stole through his body, his muscles finally unwinding now that he had his hands on you again. He nodded faintly and kissed you again. “You have no idea.”


End file.
